Marla Swoffer
  • Read
  • Meet
  • Eat
  • Read
  • Meet
  • Eat

A Liturgy for Daily Living in 2014

1/1/2014

6 Comments

 
photograph copyright Marla Swoffer
Rather than passively reflecting back on the past year, I'm going to spend the coming year traveling through the last decade and then some, all the way to the founding of my family. Before I explain how my time machine will work, here's a little background: 

I got married 12+ years ago, pregnant a month later, and then over the next five years, had three children, moved to five different houses, and relocated our business twice. A little over two years after we finally settled down and stopped having kids, we unexpectedly started homeschooling.  That was five years ago this month.  

Lots of other things happened during that time, but guess what didn't happen?  Filing. As in papers didn't get sorted or purged. They piled up and got put into boxes. The only organization to those boxes is two categories:  1) the children's artwork  2) everything else. These boxes currently line our upstairs hallway. Partly because we don't have a garage and partly because I'm delusional - I have continued believing that if they're visible, I will deal with them. Instead, the collection keeps relocating, and on average, a new box is added to it every year (in each of the two categories).

I admit to having hoarding on one side of my family. Thankfully, there are minimalists on the other side. So I tend to collect papers and books, while frequently purging other stuff. In fairness to myself, I am continually giving away books, but new (used) ones seem to constantly replace them. So it's the papers that are the bane of my existence. And after that, it's the digital files, namely the visual souvenirs of our life stored in iPhoto, which also go unsorted, and therefore unprinted.

Back to the future...er, present, and how that relates to the past. Enter the phrase "reflect and project."  I am a future oriented person and an idealist. Which has led to more delusions. Like believing that there's a pot of gold at the end of my boxes. That when I finally have discarded 80% of what's in them and organized the remainder, I can then begin to fully live. Order will bring me peace, out of which will flow creativity and harmony. It's actually rather similar to how many view a new year - as the opportunity for a clean slate. That if we can just put the past behind us and head out on the right path, it will lead us to the self and the life we've always dreamed of.

Well, I've decided that united, the above delusions can actually divide and conquer. To deconstruct my idol of idealism, I must deconstruct my piles. I'm calling it Reflect and Project. During one hour of the kids' afternoon rest time, I will alternate Reflect days with Project days (hereafter referred to as RD & PD). On RDs, I will sort and file one box (when I get through all of them, I will move on to organizing digital files). On PDs, I will create - write, make art, or work on my MMTIC certification. Reflect signifies both processing through the memories resurrected through finding old pieces of my life and the idea of reflecting God's image through implementing order. Project means both its noun form, as in creative project, and its verb form - projecting into the future, as in goal setting based on future vision. 

...So an hour a day (five days a week) is devoted to the past and the future, which means I hope to be living in the present most of the other 23 hours a day. And how do I intend to do that?  Well, I've got another hour a day goal, but this one is a limit. On my internet activity. That's right - one hour a day for reading articles and interacting on social media (doesn't include productivity stuff like renewing library books, banking, ordering household goods, etc.). I have a timer app on my browser that shows me how long I've been browsing and it's broken down into websites, so I can see the time spent on each one. The way that I'm hoping to accomplish this - gulp - is by giving myself that hour when the kids have their screen time, since that's their limit as well. That both keeps me accountable and ensures that the computer doesn't divert my attention from the kids. It will stay off until that hour, and since I rarely text and don't like typing on my mobile devices, I will just use them for checking email, writing brief responses when needed, and doing the "work" stuff I listed earlier.

Another reason for the limitation on my internet usage is because I really want to return to writing on a consistent basis. I had hoped to begin that last spring, but apparently I wasn't ready. So I'm planning to purchase a nifty word processor type keyboard which can send data to the computer. We bought our 11 year-old an electronic typewriter last year, which she loves, but the correction feature conked out, so she and I are going to both love using this new writing instrument. My goal is to blog once a week and to begin working on outlines for some book ideas I've been pondering.

Before I go on with my other goals, I should back up a bit to the theme that ties it all together. It actually relates to my previous post. Just as the the Sunday morning church service models a pattern for worship during the week, our days have a liturgy, guided by our priorities. We can think of Sundays as the feasts of the church year, and the rest of the week as ordinary time. It's easy to lose our spiritual focus during those warm, lazy days of summer and hectic weeks of fall when we're not following a pattern of seasonal worship. So, too can we drift from what really matters as we go about the business of our daily, routine lives. 

To build a template (so to speak) of hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly living that adds up to a purposeful year, which year upon year creates a meaningful life, the foundation can only be one thing: It's what Jesus said was the greatest command:  Love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. So "my" time must be based on activities that bring every part of me into worship (enjoying God and glorifying Him) - my intellect, my emotions, my body, and my spirit. When we are loving God (which we can only do by receiving his love), we can follow what Jesus said was the next greatest command: Love others as yourself. 

I talked about a couple of the major ways I intend to love God with my mind in 2014 - there are more of them, as well as goals for my heart, body, and spirit (not that they're all neatly compartmentalized like that) that I will share in my next post...
6 Comments
christine m.
1/1/2014 02:06:04 pm

Wow! A lot of what you said is where I am. Drowning in piles of papers, records, projects & supplies that are only useful if I can get to them. I will take some of your ideas in tackling these areas in my home.
Well written Marla!

Reply
Marla link
1/4/2014 01:25:24 pm

Thanks, Christine, and comforting to know I'm in good company :)

Reply
Cassandra Hess
1/1/2014 07:48:17 pm

Thanks for sharing this! I need to do something similar, but have been so resistant to putting myself in a box so to speak. I did purge quite a bit last year, in that lull of the new year where work hadn't quite picked up. This year, I'm in a foreign country these first couple days. I feel kind of aimless. I just know I'm not using my time purposefully, so maybe I can take some guidelines from you, and create a system for my life. Happy New Year friend!

Reply
Marla link
1/4/2014 01:27:05 pm

Happy new year to you, too! You must have had an amazing time, but maybe it also renewed your vigor to tackle the mundane :)

Reply
Alicia link
1/2/2014 02:32:03 am

I think you will find freedom in the sorting and throwing away process. I do. I love your idea of a liturgical approach to the day, week and month..not sure how that plays out in my life..but I definitely want to give it some thought.
xo Mom

Reply
Marla link
1/4/2014 01:29:03 pm

It always feels good to get rid of stuff, but it always feels like there are more important, pressing things to do, and once it piles up, it becomes an even more time consuming, daunting task. Such a catch-22! (btw, Mom, now you've made it clear which side of the family leans toward minimalism ;)

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Categories

    All
    Art
    Beauty
    Blogging
    Body
    Books
    Church
    Culture
    Ethics
    Family
    Food
    Friends
    Frugality
    Giveaways
    God
    Grace
    Homemaking
    Homeschooling
    Humor
    Insights
    Liturgy
    Marin
    Marriage
    Motherhood
    Movies
    Music
    Personality
    Science
    Sheltering In Place
    Sillyness
    Social Media
    Stories
    Theology
    Truth
    Women
    Wow
    Writing

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photos used under Creative Commons from SteveNakatani, epSos.de, 柏翰 / ポーハン / POHAN, Rob Shenk, nirats